How is God Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient?

Many have heard about God, but wonder about His existence, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. To learn more about this, let's start with the Bible.

The Bible teaches:

24 God is Spirit (John 4:24).

Because God is spirit, this helps explain why God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. Notice a couple of comments from two books:

Both God and the Word (who became Christ) have existed eternally and before all else. From them emanates the Spirit of God, by which God is omnipresent and omniscient. God the Father is the divine Father of the God family, into which truly converted Christians shall be born. (Mystery of the Ages. Dodd, Mead & Company, New York. 1985 ,p. 57)

"In the Beginning-GOD" God had to be there first because He made everything that ever was. (Genesis 1: 1.) Probably one of the first things you wonder about God is where He came from. He didn't come from anywhere. He has always existed.' It is hard for us to understand. We must remember that "the secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever" (Deuteronomy 29:29). God always was and He always will be. (Revelation 1:8.) (Wolverton B. RadioCG, 1961, pp. 2-3)

God has always existed. Notice also what God's name is:

13 Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" 14 And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" (Exodus 3:13-15)

God is Omnipotent and Omnipresent

In 2007, Wallace Smith had an article published titled God and the "Three 'O's. It begins with:

Is God omnipotent,
omnipresent and omniscient? In answering such questions,
we should always begin with another question:
“What does the Bible teach on these matters?” If our
beliefs are not rooted in God’s inspired word, they are not
beliefs worth having!...

Is God Omnipotent?

This is, perhaps, the easiest of the three to answer:
Yes, God is omnipotent! There is even a verse that, in the
King James Version and New King James Version, uses this
very word: “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent
reigns!” (Revelation 19:6).

The Greek word translated as “Omnipotent” here is
pantokrator, meaning “All-ruling” or (as it is more frequently
translated) “Almighty.” When we say God is
“Almighty,” we are stating our belief in His authority and
rulership over all creation, and the Bible is firm in declaring
this fact. Even though Satan is now the “god of this
age” (2 Corinthians 4:4), it belongs to him only because
Almighty God has granted it to Him: “And the devil said
to Him, ‘All this authority [over all the kingdoms of this
world] I will give You, and their glory; for this has been
delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish’” (Luke
4:6).

It is God who ultimately reigns in the universe, and
all legitimate authority must derive from Him. If we let
Scripture tell us of God’s authority, we must agree that He
has all authority to do all His pleasure (Isaiah 46:10–11),
and to see to the fulfillment of His plans without fail. If
we accept the Scriptural definition of “almighty”—and we
must accept no other!—we can rightly call God omnipotent.
Indeed, Christ says clearly that “with God all things
are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

However, if we were to insist that omnipotent meant
God could do anything and everything at all, we would
need to reject that description, because His word says He
cannot! For example, God “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2), and
He “cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). The Bible
clearly shows that God cannot act contrary to His nature.
But do these “cannots” mean He is not omnipotent—not
almighty? Not if we let Scripture define its own terms!

There is no limit to the power of God. A search I did in the NKJV revealed that God was referred to as "Almighty" 48 times in the Hebrew scriptures and 9 times in the Greek scriptures, a total of 57 mentions in the Holy Bible. This is a point that God wants humankind to clearly understand.

The Bible is clear that God is omnipotent. Notice the following:

5 For I know that the Lord is great,
And our Lord is above all gods.
6 Whatever the Lord pleases He does,
In heaven and in earth,
In the seas and in all deep places.
7 He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;
He makes lightning for the rain;
He brings the wind out of His treasuries. (Psalms 135:5-7)

5 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before Him are as nothing,
And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

18 To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him? (Isaiah 40:15-18)

The Three 'O's article continued with:

Is God Omnipresent?

Correctly understood, the question of God’s omnipotence
has historically caused little controversy. The term
omnipresent, however, has caused more trouble. Basically,
being omnipresent means being present everywhere at the
same time. Can this term be applied to God? What does
Scripture tell us?

Ask yourself: is there any physical location in this
universe where we can hide from the presence of God?
The answer, according to Scripture, is a resounding “No!”
In fact, King David posed this question directly, asking:
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from
Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I
make my bed in hell [the grave], behold, You are there. If
I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me,
and Your right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:7–10).

David answers the question beautifully: it is futile to
search for a place to hide from the presence of God (and
it is unwise to try—just ask Jonah!). In this sense, God’s
infallible word shows that He is omnipresent—within His
vast creation, there is no place where you can hide from
His presence.

Still, we must be careful with our terms! Many have tried
to twist God’s omnipresence to portray Him as some kind of
shapeless “blob”—even though the Bible clearly shows that
God has a body and a shape—and it is a shape like ours!
Consider Genesis 1:26, which tells us that man is made in
God’s image and likeness—words that do convey a sense of
shape. We do not use human philosophies to avoid the clear statements of Scripture! Consider, as well, the passage in
which God says unambiguously that He has a face, a hand and
a back (Exodus 33:18–23)! The only way to understand this
passage from Exodus without making a mockery of God’s word is to agree that God has a shape and a body!

So, how is God “everywhere”? We already read the
answer, in David’s words: “Where can I go from your
Spirit?” (Psalm 139:7). It is by their Spirit that the Father
and the glorified Christ have complete access to their creation!
Through His Spirit, God’s reach extends to every
nook and cranny of the universe, and there is—as David
wrote—no place to flee from His presence. Yet He still
retains a shape—a body—ruling in glory from His throne
in heaven. It is from there that “His eyes behold” the sons
of men (Psalm 11:4).

We must also note that although God is omnipresent
through His Spirit, we can become separated from Him. In
fact, we are warned, “your iniquities have separated you
from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from
you, so that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). Jesus Christ
experienced this horrible separation during His crucifixion,
when on our behalf He took upon Himself the full
penalty of our sins (cf. Mark 15:34; Isaiah 53:4–5).

The world’s scholars and theologians often have a
wrong idea about God’s omnipresence. But if we let God’s
flawless word teach us what God’s omnipresence truly
means, our footing is made sure.

God is everywhere, in the known, and unknown universe. And the Spirit of God is infinite.

The article continued with:

Is God Omniscient?

Having considered God’s omnipotence and His
omnipresence, we can address the most troublesome of
the “Three ‘O’s”— His omniscience. Is God omniscient?

Philosophers and theologians have debated this question
over the millennia. Were you to read what the
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says about God’s
omniscience, you would find more philosophical gobbledygook
than you may have seen in your entire life. So,
before we determine whether or not God is omniscient,
we need to recognize that the world has some weird and
conflicting ideas about what this word means. Why is
there so much confusion?

The Random House Unabridged Dictionary (2006)
offers this definition of omniscient: “having complete or
unlimited knowledge, awareness, or understanding; perceiving
all things.” That is quite a mouthful; what does it
mean to have “complete or unlimited knowledge”?
Scholars disagree about what it means, but if we let the
lamp of God’s word light our path and guide our steps
(Psalm 119:105), we can know the truth of the matter.

The Bible tells us that God does perceive all things,
which means that no fact can be hidden from His knowledge.
As King David recognized: “Indeed, the darkness
shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day;
the darkness and the light are both alike to You” (Psalm
139:12). God sees all things, and nothing can be hidden
from His knowledge—not even the secret intentions of
the heart (Psalm 44:21). In fact, He understands our own
intentions better than we do (cf. Jeremiah 17:9-10;
Hebrews 4:12)! As Paul explains, “there is no creature
hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open
to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account”
(Hebrews 4:13).

Human beings perceive through the senses, but there
are limits to what the senses let us perceive and understand.
But God’s senses are not limited like ours! His
Spirit searches all things (1 Corinthians 2:10), and nothing
is beyond God’s ability to perceive it. In this sense, He
is omniscient. Nothing can escape His gaze and His
knowledge. If it can be known, He knows it!

But if we are to use the word omniscient to describe
our Father and His glorified Son, it cannot mean that God
knows our every choice before we make it in every circumstance,
because Scripture tells us otherwise! For
example, the Bible shows that when God gave Abraham
the supreme test of sacrificing his son Isaac, He did not
know until that moment whether Abraham would choose
to obey. Upon seeing his choice, He told Abraham: “Do
not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld
your son, your only son, from Me” (Genesis 22:12).
This was one of the most crucial points in the history of
faith and in the plan of God! It was a challenge so intense,
and involving such faith, that God did not know what
choice Abraham would make.

Most of the choices we make each day may be rather
predictable. Parents with young children can see this for
themselves. If a parent can often predict a young child’s
choices, how much more can the One who sees all—even
the intent of our heart, which we sometimes do not know
ourselves—predict our choices? Yet the Bible reveals that
God does arrange circumstances to challenge our character—
to help us to grow—where the outcome is not so predictable.
When we choose, we participate with God in the
creation of our character. We have a role to play in God’s
creation of His character within us, as He prepares us to
become future members of His Family! We should not allow
vain philosophy to rob us of this truth.

It is not that God cannot determine the future. He
can, and He does! We read: “Remember the former things
of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and
there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure’”
(Isaiah 46:9–10).

Yet this passage shows that declaring the end from the
beginning is not just a function of “seeing” what is “destined”
to happen. Continuing in Isaiah, we read that God
acts and intervenes in history to accomplish His ends,
“calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes
My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken
it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will
also do it” (v. 11).

We can say with confidence that God is omniscient.
But we must allow the Bible to define what
omniscient means. Let the world’s theologians and
philosophers wander from the path of Scripture in
their pointless arguments if they choose—we need not
follow them!

The Godhead Inhabits Eternity

The Bible reveals that God is eternal. Notice what God is called:

27 The eternal God (Deuteronomy 33:27).

God also does not change and will be around always:

27 But You are the same, And Your years will have no end. (Psalm 102:27)

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

Notice the further the following:

13 Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" 14 And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:13-14).

Thus, even the name that God identified Himself as "I am who I am" signifies eternity.

The Bible reveals that the eternal power of the Godhead should be obvious:

20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20).

This does not mean that humans fully understand the eternity of the Godhead, but that there should be enough evidence of His existence that logical people will realize that His eternal attributes are partially understood through what God has made (an article of related interest may be Is Evolution Probable or Impossible or Is God's Existence Logical).

In Isaiah 57:15 it states that God "inhabits eternity." Now eternity is a difficult concept for humans to fully grasp. While most of us seem to have no problem envisioning that we could live forever, the idea of something not having a physical beginning is totally foreign to our lives' experiences.

Notice that God does understand this:

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

26 Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him;
Nor can the number of His years be discovered (Job 36:26).

5 He does great things which we cannot comprehend. (Job 37:5)

8 And to God I would commit my cause—8 Who does great things, and unsearchable, Marvelous things without number (Job 5:8-9).

So we see that God put eternity in human hearts and God is infinite, but that we cannot fully understand even the work that God does from the beginning to the end. It is beyond our ability to grasp at this time. Yet the Bible reveals:

18 Known to God from eternity are all His works (Acts 15:18).

Thus it is clear that God knows all His works from eternity, but that there are some things that humans simply cannot fully understand (see also Where Did God Come From?).

It also seems to be able to be beyond our ability to grasp the entire universe (cf. Jeremiah 31:32). Like God, the dimensions of the universe have no beginning and have no end. And if one concludes that empty space is the end, where does the empty space end?

Of course, it does not.

Thus, just like no one can go to one end or the other of the universe, no one can get to the beginning or the end of the Godhead. So even though the idea of an endless universe can be within our hearts and minds, it is a concept, like the eternity of God, that is difficult for humans to fully understand.

God is Love

Even though God is immortal, how was it possible for God to inhabit eternity? The answer also seems to be found in the Bible.

First read the following:

23 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4,
KJV). For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

Because the Godhead does not ever sin, the Godhead never has to die and is thus capable of living eternally (Jesus only died because He allowed Himself to do so, see Matthew 26:53). Only a sinless being could exist without a beginning. Do you know that Jesus taught the following?

17 But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:17).

17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?' So Jesus said to him...19 "You know the commandments" (Mark 10:17,19)

16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment (1 John 4:16-18).

The reason that the Godhead was able to exist from eternity is because that the Godhead is love--anything other than love would eventually destruct. There was no fear in love. No fear of destruction nor any adverse judgment. Also:

10 Love does no harm to a neighbor (Romans 13:10).

Notice what what was inspired to write about aspects of love:

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. NKJV (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a).

Because God is love, the Godhead was able to exist from eternity. Because God is love, God has a plan to share His love and offer salvation to all.

Notice:

8...God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:8c-10).

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:16-17).

We humans do not possess perfect love, hence there are still some things we do not fully grasp, but because of the love of God we will have the ability to do so. Because God is love, God has been able to inhabit eternity.

God's Understand is Infinite

Going back to the God and the "Three 'O's article, it concluded with:

The Final Word

So, what does God’s word teach us? We learn from
Scripture that God is omnipotent—or “almighty”—such
that no part of creation can escape His influence or
authority. We see that God—through His Spirit—is
omnipresent, such that no part of creation can escape His
presence. And we understand that God—perceiving all
things—is omniscient, such that no part of creation can
escape His knowledge...

But is there any practical use for this knowledge? Yes,
absolutely! We should never forget that God has called us
to become His full sons and daughters, to share His level of
existence with us for all eternity. Just as these characteristics—
amazing power, access to all of the universe and
perception of all things—apply to Christ and the Father
now, they one day will apply to us!

As John wrote in his epistle, “everyone who has this
hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John
3:3). The more clearly we can see our awesome calling,
the better we can put this present life into perspective. So,
for those who wish to purify themselves, understanding
the nature of the God Family has more practical application
than you might at first assume!

As we seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,
let us be motivated by our high calling and our ultimate
destiny! We must avoid the snares and pretensions
of this world’s philosophers, and instead let God teach us
truthfully of His glory, that we may one day share it with
Him.

God is all powerful, everywhere, and all knowing. God is Spirit, and because of that, is capable of being omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient.

While some of this is not possible for humans to understand, we need to realize that God, who has always existed, has unlimited understanding:

5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite. (Psalm 147:5)

Since the Bible teaches that Christians can enter the God family, the time will come when our own understanding about all matters is greatly increased as well.